U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,085 discloses a crimp connector for magnet wires and stranded wires in which two chambers are formed by two portions of a sheet metal piece, which portions are bent to have a U-shaped cross-section. The two portions are arranged one within the other, the space between the portions forming an outer chamber, and the space within the U cross-section of the inner portion forming an inner chamber. From the description of that known crimp connector, it can be concluded that one may arrange the magnet wires in one chamber, and the connecting conductor in the other chamber, or alternatively may arrange magnet wires as well as stranded connecting conductors in both chambers.
With the prior art crimp connectors, including the connector of U.S. Pat. No. 3,916,085, very high crimping forces must be applied to assure that reliable electrical and mechanical interconnection will be made with the various kinds of wires of the connecting conductors, which may have widely varying diameters. Despite being careful in performing the compressing step, wires are sheared off frequently with prior art crimp connectors due to the high crimping forces. This has the result that the conductors to be connected must be cut off anew, and the whole interconnecting process must be repeated with the use of a new crimp connector. In addition, it is known that in order to obtain reliable interconnections with prior art crimp connectors, the diameter of the magnet wire has to be preferably larger than the diameter of the single strands of the connecting wire, unless complicated provisions are taken to bond together (e.g. by soldering) the strands. However, even with these provisions, the applicability range of the prior art crimping connectors remains limited.
The connector of the present invention has two chambers formed from a unitary piece of sheet metal, the chambers being disposed side-by-side in the connector cross-section and being adapted to be compressed by means of a tool. Each chamber is formed by a bridge part and a row of a plurality of fingers which depend from the bridge part essentially radially with respect to the axis of the connector, and are essentially circulary bent around the bridge part. One of the chambers serves to accommodate the magnet wire, and the other serves to accommodate the connecting wire. At least the magnet wire chamber has cutting means provided on its interior surface, which cutting means, upon compression of the chamber, cuts through the insulation of the magnet wire and effects an electrical contact with the electrically conductive core of the magnet wire.